Showing posts with label Kitchen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kitchen. Show all posts

Sunday, March 11, 2012

The Demeter Cookbook: Recipes Based on Biodynamic Ingredients from the Kitchen of the Lukas Klinik

The Demeter Cookbook: Recipes Based on Biodynamic Ingredients from the Kitchen of the Lukas Klinik Review



This "official" Demeter Cookbook presents more than 200 recipes developed and collected by the Swiss Chef Hermann Spindler. Included are tempting recipes for sauces, soups, hors d'oeuvres, salads, main dishes, puddings, and desserts. It also features special recipes for casseroles and gratins, vegetables, quark (curd cheese) dishes, grain dishes, doughs, savory and sweet pastries, muesli and drinks--interspersed with informative commentary on the value of spices.

Since its foundation by Rudolf Steiner in 1924, the international biodynamic agricultural movement has produced high-quality, premium organic food that is increasingly sought out and respected for its flavor, quality, and nutritional value. The Demeter® logo certifies that the product has been grown and processed using verified biodynamic methods.

Hermann Spindler has been head chef at the Lukas Clinic for many years, where his kitchen has gained an outstanding reputation. Alongside food preparation methods that conserve nutritional value, imaginative presentation of dishes, and freshly prepared meals, the special nature of the Lukas cuisine is based on the careful selection of Demeter foods, in-season and from local sources whenever possible.

The Demeter Cookbook collects a selection of Spindler's delicious lacto-vegetarian, wholefood recipes--based on the core principles of anthroposophic nutrition--all in an easy-to-use presentation.


Thursday, March 8, 2012

The Tuscan Sun Cookbook: Recipes from Our Italian Kitchen

The Tuscan Sun Cookbook: Recipes from Our Italian Kitchen Review



“Tuscan food tastes like itself. Ingredients are left to shine. . . . So, if on your visit, I hand you an apron, your work will be easy. We’ll start with primo ingredients, a little flurry of activity, perhaps a glass of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, and soon we’ll be carrying platters out the door. We’ll have as much fun setting the table as we have in the kitchen. Four double doors along the front of the house open to the outside—so handy for serving at a long table under the stars (or for cooling a scorched pan on the stone wall). Italian Philosophy 101: la casa aperta, the open house.”
—from the Introduction
 
In all of Frances Mayes’s bestselling memoirs about Tuscany, food plays a starring role. This cuisine transports, comforts, entices, and speaks to the friendly, genuine, and improvisational spirit of Tuscan life. Both cooking and eating in Tuscany are natural pleasures. In her first-ever cookbook, Frances and her husband, Ed, share recipes that they have enjoyed over the years as honorary Tuscans: dishes prepared in a simple, traditional kitchen using robust, honest ingredients.
           
A toast to the experiences they’ve had over two decades at Bramasole, their home in Cortona, Italy, this cookbook evokes days spent roaming the countryside for chestnuts, green almonds, blackberries, and porcini; dinner parties stretching into the wee hours,  and garden baskets tumbling over with bright red tomatoes.
           
Lose yourself in the transporting photography of the food, the people, and the place, as Frances’s lyrical introductions and headnotes put you by her side in the kitchen and raising a glass at the table. From Antipasti (starters) to Dolci (desserts), this cookbook is organized like a traditional Italian dinner.
           
The more than 150 tempting recipes include:
·         Fried Zucchini Flowers
·         Red Peppers Melted with Balsamic Vinegar
·         Potato Ravioli with Zucchini, Speck, and Pecorino
·         Risotto Primavera
·         Pizza with Caramelized Onions and Sausage
·         Cannellini Bean Soup with Pancetta
·         Little Veal Meatballs with Artichokes and Cherry Tomatoes
·         Chicken Under a Brick
·         Short Ribs, Tuscan-Style
·         Domenica’s Rosemary Potatoes
·         Folded Fruit Tart with Mascarpone
·         Strawberry Semifreddo
·         Steamed Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Sauce
 
Frances and Ed also share their tips on stocking your pantry, pairing wines with dishes, and choosing the best olive oil. Learn their time-tested methods for hand rolling pasta and techniques for coaxing the best out of seasonal ingredients with little effort.
           
Throw on another handful of pasta, pull up a chair, and languish in the rustic Italian way of life. 


Monday, January 2, 2012

The Conscious Kitchen: The New Way to Buy and Cook Food - to Protect the Earth, Improve Your Health, and Eat Deliciously

The Conscious Kitchen: The New Way to Buy and Cook Food - to Protect the Earth, Improve Your Health, and Eat Deliciously Review



Your everyday food choices can change the world—and make meals taste better than ever
 
For anyone who has read The Omnivore’s Dilemma or seen Food, Inc. and longs to effect easy green changes when it comes to the food they buy, cook, and eat, The Conscious Kitchen is an invaluable resource filled with real world, practical solutions.
 
Alexandra Zissu walks readers through every kitchen-related decision with three criteria in mind: what’s good for personal health, what’s good for the planet, and what tastes great. Learn, among other things, how to:
 
- Keep pesticides, chemicals, and other harmful ingredients out of your diet
- Choose when to spend your dollars on organic fruit and when to buy conventionally grown
- Avoid plastic—including which kinds in particular and why
- Figure out what seafood is safe to eat and is sustainable
- Use COOL (country of origin labels) to your advantage
- Determine if a vegetable is genetically modified just from reading its PLU (price look up) code
- Decipher meat labels in the supermarket
- Cook using the least energy—good for the earth and your wallet
- Eat locally, even in winter
- Understand what “natural” and other marketing terms really mean
- Buy packaged foods wisely

Navigate farmers’ markets, giant supermarkets, and every shop in between to find the freshest and healthiest local ecologically grown and produced meat, dairy, fruits, and vegetables—no matter where you live
 
With The Conscious Kitchen as your guide, you will never again stand in the market bewildered, wondering what to buy. You can feel confident you are making the best possible choices for you, your family, and our planet.
 
 
ALEXANDRA ZISSU writes about green living, food, and parenthood. She is the author of The Conscious Kitchen, coauthor of The Complete Organic Pregnancy, and contributes the “Ask an Organic Mom” column to The DailyGreen.com. Her stories have appeared in The New York Times, The Green Guide, Cookie, Details, Bon Appétit, Self, and Health, among other publications. She is also a public speaker and “greenproofer,” an eco-lifestyle consultant. Visit her website, www.alexandrazissu.com.